How to Organize Your Digital Photos

Bringing order to the chaos of digital pics.

When I think of the boxes of pictures that sit stuck together in my parents’ attic, never sorted, I think how lucky I am to be of the digital camera generation -- no piles and piles of pics, just mounds and mounds of megabytes. But then I realize that my pictures are virtually stuck together -- that is, stuck in the bowels of my laptop. I have them somewhere, I know, but exactly where, I couldn’t really say.

That’s where the “o” word comes in. Yes, organization. Even when pictures are digitized, we unfortunately can’t avoid that most dreaded task. If you don’t, you’ll be sorry when you go looking for that great shot of DH standing atop an active volcano, and all you can find is the CD case that once held it. Here, 7 tips to make organizing digital pics a snap.

1. Don’t save everything Resist the urge to hold onto bad pics or duplicates (how many do you really need of you giving the dog a bath?). Filter first by deleting the ill-framed shots before you download them onto your computer. That way, you’ll keep your hard drive free of oddball shots and reserved for only the best pics. In your zeal to save space, however, don’t skimp on picture size. If you want to enlarge an image later, and don’t have a decent file size, you won’t get a good printout. Your safest bet is to use the highest or next-highest file size (usually 2 to 4MB) when saving images. That said, if you have lower priority pics that you’re just going to be emailing to relatives, a lower resolution is fine.

2. Name wisely Don’t rely on the gobbledygook that the computer automatically gives a photo (who can remember whether “10YUTJ24” shows your dog Buster licking his bowl or your MIL sneering at you from the corner?). Make sure the names you use indicate what they are. You may find that numbering your photos is useful when trying to remember what sequence the pictures were taken. But for a quick-to-find, organized system, it’s best to be as descriptive as possible -- with the subjects, location, and dates.

3. Transfer to a disk Save your digital pics onto a high-quality DVD or CD. And, to ensure that picture data is read successfully, use the “verify data” option on your CD/DVD writing software when making a copy. To be completely anal, uh, safe, make two copies of each CD or DVD. Keep one with you and the other in a safe place, such as a safety deposit box. Proper labeling applies here as well. So that you won’t forget what’s on each disk, use a similar labeling process you used when storing the images on your computer. Back up pictures on CDs every six months and label according to the time period. Use a permanent marker on the inner round of the disk so that over time, the ink won’t get on the data.